There is quite a bit of push back to the request in the US to have country of origin food labels. Has any other country implemented Country of Origin Food labeling?
If so have their been any issues that were caused by the regulation?
asked Jul 10, 2013 at 17:13
-
5What really bakes my noodle is, what do you do with products that contain 50 ingredients, ALL made in different countries? At least, beef only has 2 ingredients, cow meat and horse meat.– user4012Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 9:29
-
2@DVK there are some rules e.g. if it's more than 50% from other countries than it's from there. Therefore there are problems e.g. some producer of sausages buy some meat in Poland (cheaper) and sell it as French product, because the other ingredients in the product are 51% and the meat is "only" 49% ;), Therefore they want to take in reality more strict regulations, but EU is quite slow, but still faster than US, in my opinion, of course.– DerfderCommented Jul 11, 2013 at 10:05
-
1@DVK - Crafted in ____ with Ingredient x from A, Y from B... or Ingredient X from A, B, or C. Or better yet locally source what you can.– SoylentGrayCommented Jul 11, 2013 at 13:36
-
3@DVK It's an incentive (a very capitalist thing) to use fewer ingredients (which usually results in a better product). If you want to add Chinese horse meat, Korean cat meat and Nepalese yak meat to your beef patty then it'll cost you that much more label space.– Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'Commented Jul 15, 2013 at 10:07
-
2@Gilles - An incentive's existence is neither capitalist nor non capitalist. "Pay your racket fee or we'll bust your knees" is an incentive. "Vote for Chairman Myao or you get sent to a reeducation camp" is an incentive. "I won't buy your product because it doesn't tell me if it has horse meat" is a capitalist incentive. "You aren't allowed to SELL your product because it doesn't say if it has horse meat" is NOT a capitalist, but a bureaucratic state incentive. Mind you, it benefits SOME capitalists, namely those who don't depend on selling downmarket. Which is why they lobby for it.– user4012Commented Jul 15, 2013 at 11:08
|
Show 3 more comments
1 Answer
13 Dec. 2014: New EU food labelling legislation applies.
Monique Goyens, director general of BEUC, said: "In 2013, the EU will decide on crucial rules on origin labelling. Our survey clearly shows that this info ranks high when people buy food. Making origin labelling meaningful and easy to find should be legislators' yardstick.
"Producers go to great lengths to make consumers believe their food has a special regional character. German feta cheese promoted in Greek font or Chinese tomato sauce with Italian flags are poor marketing tricks to mislead shoppers. Such dishonest practices are unacceptable and should be stopped."
http://www.euractiv.com/consumers/eu-consumers-want-better-food-or-news-517321
or
The issues question: Nowadays it's mandatory to have an address of the manufacturer. But there is a problem if the beef is from France and the factory is in Austria. Accourding to the law (if they get other ingredients above certain percentage) the product could be labeled as from Austria, which is kind of weird.
It's mandatory for eggs and some organic material like meat etc.
In the EU, the origin must always be labelled for olive oil, fish (unless it's canned or prepared), beef, fresh or frozen poultry of non-EU origin, wine, most fresh fruit and vegetables, honey and eggs.
-
Your links indicate that it is being considered that it has not even been passed yet let alone enacted. Commented Jul 10, 2013 at 19:15
-
1You need to do that for certain products already. e.g. eggs, honey, products from milk and some meat etc. If you want to export some product from one EU country e.g. France to Austria, there need to be the manufacturer address and distributor address (if they are not the same entity) on the packaging.– DerfderCommented Jul 11, 2013 at 5:40
-
2Note that Feta and tomato sauce are two very different cases. Feta is now a protected designation of origin. The only products that can be called “feta” have to be produced in Greece in a particular way. You can still produce tomato sauce anywhere and call it tomato sauce but you have to explain where it comes from. You can in any case still use Greek or Italian colors in any way you like on your packaging (even on feta-like cheese that's not produced in Greece, it's only the name that's regulated).– RelaxedCommented Oct 31, 2014 at 7:09
-
Re: beef, I remember seeing some meat with a table on the label (place of birth/raised in/slaughtered in) but I don't recall where. So there are systems to deal with that as well.– RelaxedCommented Oct 31, 2014 at 7:14